The Eyes of the Dragon
by aslycsi1315
Summary: An unusual serial killer, who kidnaps Hotch, makes Rossi question everything that he thinks he knows about certain types of killers. No slash.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This was written for the Stephen King Halloween Challenge using the title **_**The Eyes of the Dragon **_**and Hotch/Rossi as a pairing. There is no slash in this story.**

"All fantasy should have a solid base in reality."- Max Beerbohm

**October 31, 2012- New Orleans, Louisiana**

"What have you done with Agent Hotchner?"

SSA David Rossi stood in a New Orleans police station interrogation room across from a suspect, albeit a very annoying one at that. The suspect was a short, messy haired, middle aged man, who had refused to give his name and was sitting in a chair with his head down and his eyes wandering. If Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner's life wasn't on the line, Rossi would have smacked the suspect just out of annoyance.

The Behavioral Analysis team of Rossi, Hotch, SSA Jennifer Jareau, SSA Spencer Reid, SSA Emily Prentiss, SSA Derek Morgan, and their technical analyst, Penelope Garcia ,currently in Quantico, were in New Orleans hunting down an unsub with an MO the team had never seen before. Ten males of different ages and ethnicities had been kidnapped and killed over a three month period.

The disturbing part that caught the team's attention was that the unsub had drugged each man with an hallucinogen that neither the FBI nor New Orleans police recognized before shooting each man point blank, laying them carefully on each man's front lawns and leaving a small bronze Chinese coin next to each body .The extremely unusual MO made it difficult for the team to create a profile that was solid enough to go on. With a weak profile, the case had slowly trudged on for two weeks until the previous night when something bad happened.

Prentiss and Hotch had gone to a club called Dragon's Den, a favorite spot for two of the victims, for follow up questions with the club owner, Henry Duggar. Three hours later, no one had heard anything from Prentiss nor Hotch. Rossi immediately stepped in and took charge of the situation and called in for as many officers as possible to meet at the Dragon's Den. When officers and the team had arrived, Duggar was found dead, Prentiss was found unconscious and bleeding and Hotch was missing. The team scoured the club for hours until the suspect had walked on the scene with blood on his shirt and Hotch's watch in his hands.

"I can't tell you- not yet….it's not time," the suspect stammered. Rossi growled in annoyance as he thought of how much time Hotch had left if he was injured, wherever he was. The younger agent was pretty much a son to Rossi and if anything had happened today, Rossi was sure that the suspect sitting in front of him would be the first man in his crosshairs.

"You kidnapped a federal officer, attacked another, and for all I know you could be the one behind these killings!" Rossi yelled. The suspect didn't seem fazed by the agent's tone at all. In fact, the man was more concerned with Hotch's watch more than anything else. Rossi took a second and realized that aggression wasn't going to make the man talk, but empathy might.

Rossi sat down and inhaled deeply, cupping his hands together to get himself to calm down. The suspect took one more glance at Hotch's watch before looking directly at Rossi.

"We know that you attacked Agent Prentiss and took Agent Hotchner," Rossi stated calmly, "Did you kidnap and kill those men too?"

"Yes," the suspect answered. He started to toy with the dials on Hotch's watch while saying, "I had to- I am the Dragon and had to kill those men once they didn't pass the test! They weren't- weren't good enough to take my place."

"I-I don't understand," Rossi replied uneasily. "What are you talking about?"

"March 11, 1976- the day of my birth. By Chinese Zodiac ideology, I am considered to be a fire dragon. You and so many others deny your Zodiac signs by laughing them off, but they are real!" The suspect raised his voice as his eyes bulged with excitement. " I couldn't find any actual dragon born people so I decided to look for a protector- that's what Dragons do, you know. They protect us and are intelligent, brave, and represent power!"

_That's the connection between the victims. A CEO, a manager, a firefighter- all brave, smart, and powerful,_ Rossi thought. "And Agent Hotchner?"

The suspect grinned. "I-I looked him up on Google and saw that he's a snake- he only missed being a true dragon by a few months. I saw him at the crime scene two weeks ago and seemed perfect.

So I took him yesterday and decided to test him by giving him the powder so that he could see what I saw when I was born-"

"A dragon," Rossi finished. He glanced over to Hotch's watch, which was still in the suspect's hands. "Is it time yet?"

"No, not yet. It's not time yet. He-he has to truly see what I saw, but I hope he can with-with the noise of the highway going-"

_I got him. _Rossi pulled out his cell phone and dialed Garcia's number. The perky yet worried analyst answered on the first ring.

"Sir?"

"Garcia," Rossi said, "I need you to find any abandoned buildings among the highway- try the Pontchartrain Expressway first." As he listened to Garcia type away on the computer, Rossi quickly walked out of the room, leaving the suspect to toy with Hotch's watch. He met the rest of the team in the hallway and put his phone on speaker.

"Garcia, did you find anything?" Rossi asked.

Garcia uttered, " Wait….wait…oh! SSA Rossi, this why you are the master of masters, the king of kings! There is a warehouse called La Florien that sits a block away from the expressway. It was abandoned after Katrina so if you wanted to hide someone to do crazy to them, that's a place to do it. Now go get our captain and bring home!"

Rossi looked to each agent. "You heard the woman, let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

**La Florien Warehouse**

Rossi stepped out of the SUV, slamming the door behind him. The team had arrived at the warehouse within fifteen minutes. Rossi had expected a rundown building, but instead found the La Florien to still be in somewhat good condition.

"How do you want us to do this?" Rossi suddenly heard from behind him. He turned to see JJ, Prentiss, and Reid all dressed in their Kevlar vest. Morgan was speaking with the head of the SWAT unit a few yards away.

"It looks like there's four floors to this building," Rossi replied. He pointed to the top two floors and directed, "JJ, Reid- you take a handful of SWAT and take the top floor. Morgan and I will take the third floor, Prentiss- you take the second floor, and we'll all do the first floor together. Ok?"

"Got it," each agent responded. Rossi un-holstered his weapon and cautiously started walking towards the warehouse. _ Think like the unsub, _he told himself, _He wants Aaron to take a 'journey'- if I were the unsub, where would I keep my victim?_

"What are you thinking?" Morgan asked Rossi as they all stepped onto the first floor. They found themselves on an dark, empty floor. A gust of wind blew through a window, creating a screeching noise that echoed throughout the room. JJ winced at the sound and Reid almost jumped out of his skin, but the rest of the agents kept their composure. Rossi shined his flashlight around the floor before calling out, "Aaron?"

"…No….."

The cry came from above the second floor and to Rossi, it sound remarkably like Hotch. The eldest agent pointed towards the stairwell and started jogging towards it. He made it onto the stairwell and started to creep up towards the second floor.

"…No…please stop….."

Rossi quickly stepped onto the floor and immediately spotted Hotch huddled in a corner, whimpering.

"Hotch!" Morgan yelled out in relief. The Unit Chief put his hands on his ears and repeated, "No more! I can't take this! I can't take this!"

Morgan looked to Rossi in confusion, who reminded him, "Remember the profile- the unsub drugs his victims and gives them hallucinations. He said that he wanted Aaron to see a dragon, but probably overloaded him on whatever drug he used. Let me talk to him."

Rossi holstered his weapon and slowly stepped towards Hotch. "Aaron, it's me. It's Dave," Rossi whispered. When he was closer to Hotch, he could see that the man was sweating, trembling, and had complete fear in his eyes. Blood was dried on Hotch's forehead from the attack the previous night.

"I know you're scared and you're seeing things, but none of it's real. The unsub has drugged you- the dragon that you keep seeing isn't real," Rossi continued. He kneeled next to Hotch, who was shaking his head. Rossi glanced down to see an ankle cuff on Hotch's ankle. Morgan walked over and kneeled next to Hotch while Reid, Prentiss, and JJ stayed a few feet back.

"I'm just going to take off the restraint, ok?" Rossi explained. He grabbed onto the pipe that the cuff was connected to and gave it a big yank. The weak pipe came off easily, allowing Rossi to focus back on Hotch.

"Morgan's going to take you outside. I know you're scared and confused so I want you to close your eyes, ok?" Rossi said. Hotch hesitated before quickly shutting his eyes. Morgan helped Hotch get to his feet and helped him walk towards the stairwell. Rossi planned to walk with them, but something on the floor caught his attention.

It was a small bronze coin, similar to the ones found by the unsub's other victims. This coin had Mandarin on one side and a flying dragon on the other side. Deciding it would be best for Reid to decipher, Rossi pocketed the coin and started walking towards the stairwell behind JJ and Prentiss. Something wasn't sitting right with him and for the life of him he couldn't figure out what.

**12 Hours Later- Return Flight to Quantico**

Rossi sat alone at the back of the plane, while sipping a cup of coffee. The team was finally on their way back to Quantico after waiting for Hotch to be discharged from the hospital. Everyone was exhausted and sleeping at different places on the plane.

Except for Rossi.

The nagging feeling that he had felt when the team had rescued Hotch hadn't gone away. There was something about this unsub, something that was making the+20 years of experience federal agent question the unsub's actions. He had determined throughout his twenty years that the unsubs with delusions of grandeur were always just simply crazy. However with this unsub, Rossi was beginning to wonder if under the unsub's delusional psychosis were good, honest intentions.

A few hours earlier, the team had discovered the unsub's true identity - Michael Hoff, a 42 year old man from northern Louisiana, who had lived what one would call 'the perfect life'. The man had volunteered hundreds of man hours to causes that kept at risk youth out of the streets until a schizophrenic break occurred right before the kidnappings had started. Hoff lost his job and contact with friends, living his days finding someone to 'replace him.'

"You shouldn't be drinking coffee at 10 at night," Rossi suddenly heard from across the aisle. It came from Hotch, who was groggy and awake.

Rossi smirked and held out his mug towards Hotch. "I haven't slept in what feels like a month. Even with this coffee, I'll probably still fall asleep."

Hotch sat up and spotted the Mandarin coin Rossi had found the day before. During his recovery, he hadn't really had the chance to talk about his kidnapping to anyone. "How bad was I?" he asked.

"Excuse me?"

Hotch smiled. "From what I heard, I was pretty out of it."

Rossi shrugged. "You weren't too bad, given the circumstances." He picked up the coin that was resting on the table in front of him.

"What's wrong?" Hotch asked worriedly. Rossi sighed and handed over the coin to Hotch. As the Unit Chief took a moment to admire the coin, Rossi said, "I don't know. I think I'm actually empathizing with the unsub. After reading the information Garcia had sent us on Michael Hoff, his quest to find someone to continue his track to protect the people makes a little sense. He did great work before his breakdown and just wanted someone to continue his work."

"I see. "

"I'm not saying that what he did was justified!" Rossi exclaimed, "I just think that maybe….maybe there are unsubs like him that have the right idea, but just don't have the skills or ability to complete it so they take it to a whole another level. I don't know- maybe it's the exhaustion talking."

Hotch nodded and leaned his head back against the headrest. "In my opinion, Hoff was quite delusional, but if he had a good intention somewhere in there, I would have rather he asked me instead of drugging and kidnapping meme."

Rossi chuckled for a moment before his smile faded. "Aaron, do you think that there are guys out there like Hoff?"

Hotch shrugged. "I don't know. The best we can do is learn from this experience and move on." The Unit Chief nodded at his own statement before closing his eyes. Unintentionally, Hotch quickly drifted back to sleep. Rossi watched the younger agent sleep for a few minutes before an idea came to mind. He pulled out his laptop from his bag and opened up a Microsoft Word document filled with information for his next book. Rossi scrolled down to the section titled,

**Killers with Psychosis- What we know**

And changed it to,

**Killers with Psychosis**

**What we think we Know: A Case Study- Michael Hoff**

Rossi smiled at the title and began typing away, hoping that the assumptions that he made before this case wouldn't be made again.

**The End**


End file.
